


Dicey Encounters

by MercuryWells



Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Characters Play Dungeons & Dragons, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:28:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26147197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercuryWells/pseuds/MercuryWells
Summary: The Team Squad plays Dungeons & Dragons! As usual, hijinks ensue.
Relationships: Avocato & Little Cato (Final Space), Avocato/Gary Goodspeed, Fox & Ash Graven & Little Cato, Gary Goodspeed & Little Cato, Quinn Airgone & Avocato
Comments: 12
Kudos: 32





	Dicey Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully this fic is understandable for those of you who have never played Dungeons & Dragons. Let me know if there's anything that's not clear :)

“What’s that, pops?” Little Cato asks, looking across the dining table at the book Gary is holding upright in his hands. On the cover is the image of some monster bathed in red light; a couple of people are in the foreground, the perspective making it clear the monster is several times their size.

“Oh!” Gary says as his face lights up with enthusiasm. “It’s for a game called Dungeons and Dragons!”

“What’s that?” Little Cato is skeptical. Any game that requires a book that thick to play has got to be boring.

“Ohmygosh it’s so much fun!” Gary says with his hands just as much as with his words. “You make up fantasy characters and fight monsters and work together to tell an epic story. I used to play with my friends back in college. Heck, after a lot of convincing, I even roped your dad into it.”

“My dad played?” Now Little Cato is intrigued. He sits on his knees on the wooden chair and leans over the table to get a better look. His pops, he can understand being into that nerd stuff; but his dad is a whole other story.

“Heh, yeah,” Gary chuckled. “You might say he even enjoyed himself a bit.” He sees Little Cato staring at the book, a look of concentration on his face. “Would you like to try it out, bud?”

“I guess,” Little Cato tries for nonchalance, but Gary is having none of it. _Hook, line, and sinker!_

“Awesome! We’ll get you set up with a character and I’ll explain the basic rules.”

“Do you think you can tell me some stories of when dad played?”

“Sure thing, Little Cato!”

It’s an hour later when Avocato returns home from work and sees his husband and son sitting at the dining table with books and papers strewn haphazardly about. It takes him a moment to recognize what’s happening but: “Oh no.”

“Oh yes!” Gary says. He looks Avocato directly in the eyes with that damn grin that he gets when he’s about to start pestering him into following along on some ill-advised scheme.

“Gary, no.”

“Gary yes!”

“Nope! I don’t have time to get sucked into another one of your campaigns.” Avocato walks briskly to the stairs, hoping to avoid their nonsense.

Before he can make his escape Little Cato says quietly, “I was hoping you’d play with us.”

Avocato looks back. Little Cato is sitting with his hands on his knees; he’s looking down at the table with his ears curled slightly forward.

“I’m so sorry, son. But you know how busy I am these days.”

Little Cato curls farther in on himself, and Avocato feels like the world’s worst parent. But he’s working seventy hour weeks while his department hires new staff. He knows how time consuming D&D is. There’s no way he can fit it into his already tight schedule.

Little Cato’s lips start trembling and Avocato thinks: _Roll a persuasion check with advantage_.

“I suppose I can find a way to make time,” he says with a sigh. The way Little Cato looks at him with such hope in his eyes, Avocato knows he’s going to have to make good on his promise. He’s going to have words with Gary.

* * *

“There is a thick fog that descends over the town of Rustburn,” Gary says as he dims the lights in the kitchen.

Avocato and Little Cato are sitting at the dining table across from where Gary has set up his Dungeon Master’s screen. In the center of the table there is a painted board with model buildings and a couple working “candle-lit” street lamps. A small machine blows fog over the model town. 

Gary notices that Little Cato seems entranced, already pulled into the atmosphere before things have even really begun. He’s gratified to see that even Avocato looks impressed.

“It is the Night of Terrors, when the four moons disappear from the sky of Aioaea and the denizens of the unspeakable planes make their way into the world. As members of the town guard you are tasked with the protection of the civilians.

“Spider Cat and Alruud,” Gary refers to Little Cato’s and Avocato’s character names respectively as he places two one-inch miniatures on the board, “You’re out on patrol when you hear a scream coming inside from one of the buildings.”

“Which one?” Little Cato asks, his tail swishing in excitement.

Gary chuckles. “Make a perception check.”

“That’s with this one?” Little Cato holds up a 20-sided die.

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

Little Cato tosses the die onto the table, where it bounces and rolls with a satisfying clacking. For a second it looks as if Little Cato is struggling not to chase it (Avocato had had that problem at first as well.) “Fourteen... plus one... is fifteen.”

“Yes, you know that the scream you heard came from inside this building.” Gary points at one of the model houses.

“Well Alruud? Should we check it out?” Little Cato asks his dad.

“I’m already running toward the source of the noise,” Avocato says. He has a look of concentration on his face.

“You run up to the building and the front door is already halfway opened,” Gary says.

“I run inside.”

“There is sobbing coming from a side room. You run in to see a woman crying over a crib.”

“I ask her what’s wrong.”

“She says, sobbing, ‘My baby! They took my baby!’ And indeed, you see that the crib is empty.”

“I check for any signs of who or what took the baby, and where they might have taken it,” Avocato says with urgency.

Gary inwardly grins. Sure, it may be a cheap play, but it’s sure to get Avocato invested in the story. Meanwhile, Little Cato is looking at his dad with awe at how he is playing through the scenario with such gusto and ease. Gary is pleased. His son should see this side of his dad more often.

“Make an investigation check,” Gary says with a smile.

Avocato rolls a brass 20-sided die with dragon themed numbering. It’s actually from a custom set he had commissioned years ago, and dispelled any illusion that he ‘wasn’t _that_ into the game, Gary.’

Avocato looks down at his character sheet, calculating the total of his roll after modifiers are applied. “Nineteen.”

“Not bad,” Gary says. “You notice there are wet footprints leading out of the house and into the street. The footprints look vaguely humanoid, but the fact that they are water seems significant to you.”

“Would I know what made them?” Avocato asks.

“Make a nature check,” Gary prompts. “You too Spider Cat.”

Two dice clack across the table. Three pairs of eyes watch expectantly.

“Nine,” Avocato says.

“Even worse. Six,” Little Cato says, sounding a little disappointed.

“Neither of you has any idea what left behind those prints, just that it isn’t human,” Gary says.

“I follow the footprints,” Little Cato says.

“I go with him,” Avocato adds.

“Excellent! You both follow the trail of footprints to the edge of town. They lead into a sparse forest. It’s much darker here now that you’re away from the lights of the town,” Gary narrates as he moves the miniatures to the edge of the board.

“I look for any signs of potential enemies,” Avocato says.

“Ooh. As a dragonborn you don’t have darkvision, do you?”

Avocato checks his character sheet. “Nope.”

“Well in that case roll with disadvantage.”

Avocato rolls his custom die twice. “Lower one is a ten.”

Gary gets a mischievous glint in his eye and Avocato knows where this headed.

“As you walk into the forest you notice two silhouettes among the trees. The next moment the two of you are beset by two humanoid figures,” Gary says with glee as he gets out another board with miniature trees glued on and places Spider Cat’s and Alruud’s miniatures down, along with two more minis. Gary claps his hands together. “Roll for initiative!”

What follows is twenty minutes of intense dice rolling and tactical combat. Avocato is barking orders to his son and Gary is reminded of all the wargames his husband played in college. (He misses those days.) Little Cato for his part is eating it up, jumping from his chair and doing a dance when he lands a critical hit on one of the enemies.

Finally, with one enemy killed and the other subdued Gary calls time. “Time to get to bed, Spider Cat.”

Little Cato folds his arms and pouts. “What? No fair! We just got started and I want to question the guy!”

Gary grins at his son. He’s glad that he gets to share one of his passions with Little Cato. “We’ll get to that next time. Don’t you worry.” He walks over and rubs a hand over Little Cato’s head and gets a growl for that display of affection.

“Fiiiiiine.” Little Cato fixes his hair as he walks up the stairs to his room. “Thanks for the game pops. It was fun. You too dad,” he says before he disappears.


End file.
